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Now it has won the right to host the Olympics, Lord Coe's London 2012 bid team is replaced by a new body, the London Olympic Games Organising Committee (LOGOC). This is the organisation tasked with turning the bid team's promises into reality. It is also responsible for ensuring the London Games sticks to its £2.375bn budget.

Historically, producing a financial success has proven difficult. Of the past eight summer Games since Munich in 1972, only two have done so: Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988. All the others suffered a loss or barely broke even. Last year's Athens Olympics cost £6.1bn, double the original budget.

Marketing's role in helping to keep London in the black is substantial.

It is hoped domestic sponsorship will generate £415m, with a further £60m coming from licensing and merchandising.

Few doubt that there will be interest from companies wanting to be associated with the Games, and senior LOGOC executives will be key to converting this.

'If they gather a team of competent marketers they should have little problem in pushing open doors to corporate clients to talk about backing the London Games,' says Karen Earl, managing director of Karen Earl Sponsorship.

Team make-up

The financial demands illustrate the differences in ambition between the London 2012 bid team and LOGOC, and it will be interesting to see which of the original group remains with the project.

While LOGOC will need commercial experts, the bid team's role was in part a short-term branding exercise for the city itself. Because of this, the original management team was chosen for its marketing nous. Vice-chairman and initial bid leader Barbara Cassani turned British Airways' £25m no-frills airline into Go, which ultimately sold for £400m. She was supported by Keith Mills, who became chief executive of London 2012. He created the UK's two best-known loyalty schemes, Air Miles and Nectar. And David Magliano, a former advertising executive, previously held the highest marketing and strategy roles at Go and easyJet.

Another prominent marketer within the London 2012 team was Alan Pascoe, the former Olympian, who brought sports marketing expertise from his day job as chairman of Fast Track.

Added to this group were the British Olympic Association's in-house marketing team under its director Marjenna Bogdanovich, and Phil Beard, who was the point man for many of the bid's official partners in his role as corporate relations director of London 2012.

But the job requirement has now changed, and so might the personnel.

'The bid's job is to present a concept; LOGOC has to deliver on it,' says Alun James, managing director of FourGritti Sport. 'It has changed from a theory business to a logistics business.'

Mills and bid leader Lord Coe have already pledged to remain in their posts, while a 40-strong transition squad comprising the bid leadership as well as its management and communications team, will be in place until December.

Key players

The individuals instrumental in bringing the Games to London have been offered the chance to continue their work within LOGOC, although it is uncertain how many will take up this offer.

Their dilemma is summed up by one source within London 2012: 'It's one thing to give your career a bit of profile for two years, quite another to tie yourself in for another seven.'

The shape of the marketing function will remain unclear for some time.

The most likely scenario would be an in-house team working with a number of preferred agencies. Given the level of sponsorship required, however, expertise in that field will be crucial.

One option may see Cassani offered the lead role she was moved away from earlier in the campaign - although she might not accept such a volte face.

The change in leadership from Cassani to Coe certainly effected a step-change in the fortunes of the whole bid, and employing Coe's expertise in wooing the voters proved a masterstroke.

But now the IOC has been won over, some feel the task of staging the Games, rather than building a constituency in the murky world of sport politics, is better suited to someone of Cassani's talents. If it is not to be her, employing a senior marketer of similar status may well be LOGOC's first move.